Over the past decade, I have walked farther and farther down the road of manifestation and abundance. This journey has been eye-opening and worthy of taking as I have learnt so much.

I started this journey when I was 18 and read The Secret: a book about manifesting materials and things that you want into your life. At the time that I read it, I wanted to manifest good grades in my last year of High School. And, it actually worked!

My last year of High School, I graduated with a B average when I had been a C/D student throughout the rest of my schooling-life. Granted, other things came into play. However, manifestation and accessing abundance played a big part.

Ever since then, I have learnt the power of abundance and manifestation. In learning this power, I have accumulated knowledge about other things, too.

Here is what I have learnt:

1. You have to believe that you are worthy.

Many of us have a grasp of what we want; however, what stands in-between us and ‘That thing’ is fear. Fear is energy, which can manifest into a block. Being afraid that you are not worthy is valid but completely made up.The block may not be physical but energetic. It can stop you from achieving what you want because one of the first rules of abundance and manifestation is believing that you are worthy of what you are about to receive. If you believe that you are the right person that this opportunity, thing or person is headed towards then (energetically) it will align with you more than if you don’t.

2. Trust The Universe to guide you to it or it to you.

A big part of abundance is trust. Most of us have been raised to put in more effort than we need in to circumstances, people and things because we fear that if we don’t do absolutely everything that we can then it won’t find us or we won’t find it. This thinking is valid; however, it is fear and survival-based. As we start to understand more about the human brain, we have discovered that the majority of people operate from their survival instinct- our ancestral brain. It is a survival mechanism and is not always necessary because most of us don’t need to hunt or kill to survive.

Scientifically, as humanity has progressed, our brains are growing in size but not in capacity. Holistic and spiritual practices assist us in accessing the capabilities of the brain and release us from our survival instinct. As we release this aspect of thinking, we develop a bigger picture and learn that if we give our best, keep an open mind, heart and, know what we want, we are allowing for it to come into our lives. Rather than forcing things and people into our lives, particularly those that don’t want to be there anyway.

3. Usually we are the only ones in our own way.

I keep learning this over and over. Recently, I had the biggest epiphany about what I had done to block the blessings from my life. When I was a child, my parents went through a divorce. I love both of my parents and I know that they did everything that they could; however, their divorce developed a survival instinct in me that certain relationships are not worth working on, particularly with men. And, that I constantly need to hoard things because my life might be turned upside down in a quick second, money might be gone before I know it. Another byproduct of that is the need to spend what is in my bank account to ensure that I have everything that I need in case something happens.

Something else that my inner child was holding onto was that money is evil. As a child, I developed anger and hate towards my father who would withhold money from the rest of his family when he was angry with us. So, I saw money as the problem and not how it was handled. Recently, I came to the realization that money is a form of energy. If you use money to manipulate people and things, then that is the energy that you are putting out. However, if you receive and use money for good, it can help contribute to the bigger picture of abundance: the ebb&flow of what The Universe has in store for us. Being financially equipped can be a great tool to do good, sometimes we forget that.